


Mismatched Wings

by Checklatechippancakes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: +anima au, Bigotry & Prejudice, Guardianweek, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, a bit of violence, possibly a bit of soulmate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Checklatechippancakes/pseuds/Checklatechippancakes
Summary: Crow wasn't born less than human, but fate caused him to be. Fate has a lot more in store for him.





	Mismatched Wings

**Author's Note:**

> GuardianWeek: Day 2: Birds and Bees  
> I die for +Anima aus

Fear and trauma affects some people more than others. Younger children sometimes are scarred by their abuse, taking the form of a black mark on their skin. The marks were usually hidden, resting on children’s shoulders and backs that could hide behind clothing. Some were small, while others marred their whole body. Marks that showed someone was more breakable, someone who was hurt before, but still won.

Crow often joked that a name like his begged for an +Anima. Crow? Did he  _ want  _ himself to be rashly assumed to be subhuman? He couldn’t remember why the name meant so much to him, but he didn’t want to abandon it. It had sentimental value, even if he forgot where it came from.

On Crow’s back were a cluster of hexagons, dyed the deep black of an +Anima. Despite his avian name, his +Anima was insectoid. Bees. People typically hated bees. They were small, made irritating little noises, and stung. Maybe a bee fit Crow more than he first thought? Crow had to admit his apis self came out more than once. Usually to fight people picking on others. 

Every time he let himself morph even the slightest he let himself into danger. +Anima were stigmatized just as much as being a Common was. Crow knew his big brother Jack (the traitor he was) was an +Anima. A lion. Crow was certain he’d stop being +Anima with his cushy life. Those who were safe didn’t need help from beyond. Crow was certain if he saw his jackass of a brother without his gloves on they’d be as pale and unmarked as they were the day before the storm. The day Jack risked his life for the others at the orphanage. One of the last days Crow respected his brother before he became just like him.  The last good thing Crow saw him do.

Crow shuffled on his orange shirt, brushing at the thinness. It had been worn and washed so many times it was bound to be see-through one of these days. That certainly filled Crow with fear. He’d have to make do with replacing it. Even with his brown vest, little bits of his +Anima mark would be visible. 

One day, long ago, Crow had removed his vest, water from the rain soaking him to the bone, and showed his mark to the world. Those around him knew what his hexagons meant. They saw him as lesser, and those with nothing never stopped to worry about those with even less.

Bee wings don’t fly well in the rain.

He wasn’t able to live in that part of town anymore. Rumours didn’t spread fast, but they settled in deep. Crow Hogan was an +Anima. Crow Hogan had no real rights. A bounty could be put on his head at words notice. The Tops just loved to separate families didn’t they?

But who’d want to own a bee +Anima anyways?

Crow shook the memory from his mind. He didn’t live there anymore. He didn’t have to go out that way anyways. His lucky star had to be shining down on him when he managed to find a roommate that was more than willing to help him out, both with being the one to shop in the side of town that stigmatized him, as well as not butt into his business. 

Shinji didn’t know Crow was +Anima, and it’d likely stay that way.

He laughed at the idea of being so comfortable in the house and with Shinji that his +Anima would go away. Absolutely not. There was no way a Common +Anima would go back to being a normal human. There was the constant issue of being killed in the streets by gangs and muggers. Being part bee wasn’t the strongest power, although his poison  _ had  _ killed before. 

Pulling his hair back into his headband, Crow called over his shoulder. “Hey Shinji, I’m heading out. Need anything?”

Shinji was in the living room, reading what appeared to be the same book he had been reading for a week. It didn’t look like he was making too much progress with it, but he was a working man after all. “Your safe return?”

Crow scoffed. “I can’t promise you that, and you already know that.”

He smiled, laughing with him. “I can dream, Crow.” He then shook his head. “No I don’t need anything. Have a nice outing!”

With the approval, Crow stepped outside, bike helmet already on. Crow had a personal rule for himself and it was simply “Don’t stay out after dark”. While Crow could handle himself, he didn’t want to need to. He got on Blackbird, driving out of their chain link-fenced home.

Crow couldn’t deny why he headed out; he wanted to see his old home. Shinji said his orphanage was torn down when he was still little, but Crow didn’t remember Shinji when he was young, so they couldn’t have been the same, right?

Shinji told him he was sort of embarrassed how he reacted to his home being stripped from him. Something about attacking some men in suits and Shinji almost getting himself killed. How Shinji didn’t spend adolescence in the Facility was beyond Crow.

The sky rumbled, the clouds forming a dark haze. Rain. Of course it was the  _ one  _ day Crow forgot to read a forecast. He was close to the area he grew up, but not close enough to be exactly there. Would it be better to just turn around or should he wait it out?

His answer came with a splash of water hitting his head. The rain was far too much to drive in. Crow pulled his bike over, standing under an awning. The house looked deserted, but he wasn’t about to set up camp inside.

Gloved hands rubbed together, Crow blowing hot air onto his numb fingers. Fingerless gloves. No fashion without punishment, Crow guessed. His head was dry at least, helmet resting on the bike’s seat to keep the rain off. The rain was heavy and cold, the worst two things for it to be. When it eased down to a sprinkle Crow would be ready to head back. Driving in mud was not fun, and Crow wasn’t going to risk it if his old home ended up not being there.

“Hey! Stop!” A little girl cried, Crow’s ears perking up to the sound. His eyes shot forward to a man across the way, a child cowering away from him. “Please go away!”

Crow twitched. It was raining. It was cold. He wasn’t any bigger than that man. There was a low chance he could scare him off-

Another peek of the little girl threw himself back to when he was her age. 

He was the shortest kid in the orphanage his age. The oldest boy grabbed him by the collar of shirt asking him if he was even a boy. The other boys had his arms pulled to each side so he couldn’t break free, Crow trapped between the bullies and the brick. They had joked that they’d squash him like a bug when they were done having fun.

But bees had stingers.

The oldest boy lied in the gravel, the poison injected into his bloodstream, the others screaming and running in opposite directions. Crow hid himself from society until his eyes turned back to normal and his wings folded back into his skin. The woman who ran the orphanage refused to turn away +Anima children, knowing they needed her help more than anyone.

Crow didn’t want that little girl to be in his boots in a few years.

He ripped off his vest and shirt, making massive strides as he ran on adrenaline alone. “GET AWAY FROM HER!” Crow shouted, the man looking over at him. Upon closer inspection, Crow noticed he had a knife. No matter. He wasn’t turning around now.

“Heh, what’s some girlie like you going to do about it?” The man said, gesturing to Crow’s binding with his knife. “Get lost.”

Crow didn’t need the comments to be as enraged as he was, but it certainly helped. He felt his hair move as antenna sprouted from his head, the man’s face paling. “I said,” Crow growled, his voice buzzing with the fervour of an angry swarm building up inside of him, “GET AWAY FROM HER!” Crow dug his sharpened claws into the man’s wrist, seeing it bleed in his grasp, Crow’s poison sinking into the welts.

The man fell to the ground, shaking as he looked up at Crow. “You monster +Anima… I’ll report you! You’re dead meat, asshole!” 

Crow stared down at him, rain pouring down on the three of them. Crow’s wings were gross feeling already, and he turned to the little girl. “I’m sorry, are you okay little girl-”

The little girl sniveled, one of her blue pigtails in her hands, tears pouring down her face. “Mommy! Mommy!” she cried, running off. “There’s a monster! A monster!”

Crow stared, the girl slowly disappearing and taking a corner out of sight. He turned to a puddle, seeing the reflection of his deformed self. Antenna, cross-stitched wings, and massive soulless eyes that could see in every direction.

A big bug monster. 

That’s all he was.

Crow walked across the street, picking up his wet shirt and vest, pulling it back on. It was still raining, but he didn’t want to stick around with an unconscious man that wanted him dead.

After driving home, Crow walked in the door, boots sloshing water with each step. “Crow!” Shinji called, throwing his book down and running over to check on him. “You look horrible.”

“I am horrible,” Crow answered.

That threw Shinji off, used to an obnoxiously confident Crow. “What? No you’re not!”

“I’m a monster, Shinji.” He peeled off his wet clothes in front of Shinji, Shinji unsure why they were at this step suddenly. Crow turned around, pointing at the marks on his back. “I understand if you want me dead too.”

There was a silence before Crow heard a zipper click. “If you’re a monster, I’ve been a monster even longer than you.” Crow turned around, seeing Shinji’s riding suit pool at his waist, black marks visible on his shoulder with his grey undershirt on. “I’m sorry I kept this from you, taking you in.”

Crow closed the door, doffing off his boots and walking up to Shinji. “Are these-”

Shinji nodded. “I’m crow +Anima.” He smiled slightly. “When I learned your name, I thought it had to be fate.” He laughed, covering his face. “That’s so silly, right?”

He shook his head. “I’m bee +Anima.” Shinji’s eyes widened. “ _ Your _ favourite animal.”

With a tender smile, Shinji’s midnight black wings sprouted from his back, Shinji grabbing him, wrapping him in his silky feathers. “Maybe fate brought us together after all.”

Head on Shinji’s chest, Crow heard Shinji’s heartbeat, melting into the hug. He hadn’t felt this warm in years. He felt his wet wings spill out, enveloping the two of them.

Maybe it  _ was  _ possible to feel safe enough in the Commons to one day not need his +Anima.


End file.
